Publications

July 2019
Case

Christmas Inc. (A)

By: Susanna Gallani, Gregory Sabin, Lexor Adams and Nicholas Haberling

Santa Claus is facing increasing pressures to contain costs. The economic model that has worked for centuries is starting to show some cracks, to the point that he is considering outsourcing part of its toy production. Evaluating the bids his team collected from... View Details

Keywords: Costing; Production; Cost; Analysis; Decision Making; Strategy

October 1999 (Revised April 2003)
Case

International Investor, The: Islamic Finance and the Equate Project

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Mathew M Millett

Equate Petrochemical Co. (Equate) is a joint venture between Union Carbide Corp. and Petrochemical Industries Co. (PIC) for the construction of a $2 billion petrochemical plant in Kuwait. The sponsors began construction in August 1994, using a bridge loan, and are in... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Project Finance; Religion; Investment; Finance; Mining Industry; Energy Industry; Kuwait

February 2019 (Revised March 2021)
Case

India: State Capacity and Unity in Diversity

By: Alberto Cavallo, Matthew Weinzierl and Robert Scherf

As 2018 drew to a close, India prepared to once again carry out the largest democratic exercise in human history, as in less than six months more than 850 million eligible voters would have the chance to choose their representatives to the Lok Sabha—the country’s lower... View Details

Keywords: Political Elections; Government and Politics; Leadership; Public Opinion; India

July 2016
Supplement

Mahindra Tool: Project Economics

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

The case describes Mahindra Lifespace Developers’ (MLDL), a unit of Indian conglomerate Mahindra and Mahindra, foray into the affordable housing segment. MLDL sees a huge opportunity in selling apartments to the burgeoning population of urban workers, which is badly... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Housing; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Human Needs; Social Issues; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; India

2011
Working Paper

Do Powerful Politicians Cause Corporate Downsizing?

By: Lauren H. Cohen, Joshua D. Coval and Christopher J. Malloy

This paper employs a new empirical approach for identifying the impact of government spending on the private sector. Our key innovation is to use changes in congressional committee chairmanship as a source of exogenous variation in state-level federal expenditures. In... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Investment; Spending; Government Administration; Employment; Managerial Roles

Read Now

June 2016
Case

Augustine Heard & Co.: Building a Family Business in the China Trade (A)

By: William C. Kirby, Joycelyn W. Eby and John S. Ji

Augustine Heard Sr. founded Augustine Heard & Company, a commission house focused on trade between China and the United States, in 1840. He welcomed his four nephews into the family business as it expanded in the increasingly complex economic and political environment... View Details

Keywords: Exports; China; Commissions; Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; China; Boston

May 2015
Teaching Note

The United Kingdom and the Means to Prosperity

By: Laura Alfaro, Lakshmi Iyer and Hilary White

After struggling through the country's longest recession since 2008, the U.K. was expected to grow faster than any other G7 nation in 2014. Analysts wondered whether the return to growth was because, or in spite of, Prime Minister David Cameron's controversial £113... View Details

April 2006
Case

Medical Innovation Beyond MedStar: Mobilizing for National Impact

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Ryan Raffaelli and Michelle Heskett

Dr. Craig Feied, director of MedStar Health's Medical Informatics programs, wanted his innovations to influence national health care. Since joining Washington Hospital Center's Emergency Department in 1995 with Dr. Mark Smith, their information system had become the... View Details

Keywords: Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Policy; Government and Politics; Innovation and Management; Projects; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; Washington (state, US)

05 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 5, 2007

Harvard Business School Case 406-033 In 2005, Tad Piper reflects on the successful spin-off from US Bancorp of Piper Jaffray, the investment bank founded by his grandfather. Profiles the development of Piper Jaffray from a Midwestern brokerage View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

John F. Batter

John Batter is a retired Litigation Partner in the Boston Office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP where his practice focussed on on the defense of public and private companies and their directors and management against breach of fiduciary duty claims and... View Details

November 2018 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Bangladesh: Into the Maelstrom

By: Reshmaan Hussam, Sophus A. Reinert and Namrata Arora

In the fall of 2018, Rohima Begum considered her options as the small island, or “char,” on which her family’s house rested slowly but inescapably eroded into the mighty Brahmaputra River in northern Bangladesh. The country, once unceremoniously dubbed a “basket case”... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Adaptation; Environmental Management; Problems and Challenges; Immigration; Bangladesh

June 2017
Case

MIA: Profit at the Base of the Pyramid

By: Lynda M. Applegate, José Antonio Dávila Castilla, Sarah Mehta and Aldo Sesia

In January 2016, Guillermo Jaime had just returned home to Mexico City after attending a Harvard Business School executive education program. Jaime was the founder and CEO of Mejoramiento Integral Asistido (MIA), a company providing affordable housing to low-income... View Details

Keywords: Base Of The Pyramid; Social Capitalism; Housing; Emerging Markets; Social Enterprise; Society; Wealth and Poverty; Social Entrepreneurship; Construction Industry; Mexico

29 Jul 2015
News

Ailing infrastructure

January 2025
Case

Blue Frontier: Disrupting Air Conditioning

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small

Serial entrepreneur Daniel Betts founded Blue Frontier in South Florida to offer a climate-friendly solution to increase air conditioning efficiency and dehumidify using new technology he developed. Backed by significant venture capital, Blue Frontier had to choose... View Details

03 Jun 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Platforms and Limits to Network Effects

Keywords: by Hanna Halaburda & Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

February 2016 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Regulating Radio in the Age of Broadcasting

By: David Moss, Marc Campasano and Colin Donovan

When the Titanic tragically sank on April 15, 1912, potentially life-saving help was delayed as a result of failures in radio communication. In part as a result, Congress moved swiftly to regulate radio, passing the Radio Act of 1912 four months later. Although at... View Details

Keywords: Radio; Regulation; Communication Technology; Government Legislation; History; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

February 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Yahoo! in China (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Daniel Baer

In 2007 Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo!, was lambasted by U.S. Representative Tom Lantos, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, for Yahoo's role in the arrest and imprisonment of Chinese journalist and democracy advocate Shi Tao. The case describes the... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Governance Compliance; Laws and Statutes; Rights; Business and Government Relations; Internet; Information Technology Industry; China; United States